CLD vs. Autamatic Foreign Command; or what the heck do I use?

Hi,

As, should probably be very aparent, I'm rather new to VMS, and am
playing at doing some programming. Given that I want to create
multy-platform utilities and applications, do I want to use the CLD,
what I believe is Command Language Definitions or the Foreign Command
.... stuff?

Are ther any pros and cons I should be aware of? That is, what should
influence my decision? I *think* that using the CDL will feel more
_native_ than using Foreign Command stuff, but does that matter? To
whom?


Johann

P.S. Slightly unrelated, but; what happens when two
installers/administrators do the following at the same time?:

$ SET COMMAND/TABLE=SYS$LIBRARY:DCLTABLES.EXE -_$
/OUTPUT=SYS$COMMON:[SYSLIB]DCLTABLES.EXE NEWCOMMAND.CLD

I have the feeling this is replacing the DCLTABLES.EXE and can create
a race condition? I know I'm probably missing the continuation
character, I'm not sure what it is.
.